A pair of the founding pillars of the Mountain News – Anuttama and Billy Budd – have left the area, but they have taken us in their hearts and have sent these recent pictures of a day trip to the Mountain from their new home in the Cowlitz River valley.

Looking south over the Paradise basing toward the Tatoosh Range.

Originally from the Graham area, the Budds have now moved to a handsome spread of 12 acres in the Glenoma area, which they named Nandagram, which means something sweet and inspiring in Hindi but unfortunately, the exact translation escapes me.

Nevertheless, when the Budds arrived there this summer it was clear that the house and property had suffered greatly from the lack of an on-site caretaker for the past year. Facing a daunting task of clean-up and restoration, squads of family and friends have trekked to the homesite for major scrubbing and carpentry work. This past week, a spiritual brother of Anuttama’s from Chicago, a fellow named Gupta Das, spent a week restoring the hardwood flooring and teaching the Budds the finer points of plastering, spackling and paint. As they finished up, the team decided to take advantage of this week’s superb weather and they journeyed to the Paradise Ranger Station.

Autumnal colors in the Paradise basin.

Anuttama has sent us these pictures, and their beauty begged for further viewing on the pages of the Mountain News.

A cascade into the basin at Paradise.

Wildlife

A fox at paradise asking for one more bite before the winter snows arrive.

Note: Anuttama is one of the original administrators of the Mountain News, and was instrumental in the set-up and maintenance of this web site. Thanks, Anuttama!

BAS, The Mountain News – WA

To learn more about the activities of Anuttama and Billy, check their blog:

2 Responses to Trip to Paradise

Krishna lived here from age 8 to 16. Nanda Maharaja built his house on top of the large hill here to protect Krishna from the demons sent by King Kamsa to kill Him. It is 50km northwest of Vrindavana town. The town surrounding the hill is called Nandagaon.

Pavana Sarovara is a lake (kunda) located at the bottom of Nandagram Hill. Mother Yasoda used to bathe Lord Krishna here. The bhajan Kutira of Sanatana Goswami is near the bank of the kunda. There is also the puspa-samadhi of Srila Prabhupada’s Godbrother, Akincana Krishnadas Babaji, who passed away in Nandagram.

Radharani would come to cook for Krishna every morning on the bank of this kunda. There is a well here from which Radharani would draw water for cooking.

On the top of the hill is the Nandagram Temple. There are two black-marble Deities of Krishna and Balarama on the altar. They are both in three-fold bending forms, holding flutes. On Their left and right are two tall deities of Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja. Next to Yasoda is a deity of Srimati Radharani and next to Nanda Maharaja are two of Krishna’s friends, Sudama and Madhumangala. On the ceiling of the inner dome are many murals depicting Krishna’s pastimes.

On the side altar is a Siva-linga called Nandeswara, who is said to have been installed by Vajranabha. This linga of Siva resides eternally in Nandagram performing bhajan to Sri Krishna and protecting the dhama from disturbing elements.

At bottom of the hill is a Narasimhadeva temple. Nanda Maharaja worshiped the Narasimha and Varaha Deities in this temple. The temple is located on the opposite side of the Nandagram Hill from Pavana Sarovara.
from:http://www.mvtindia.com/places/nandagram.htm